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Opening the Door to Creativity: a Psychosynthesis Approach

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Opening the door to creativity: A psychosynthesis approach Catherine Ann Lombard, M.A.1 and Dr. Barbara C. N. Müller2 Abstract Given the great importance of creativity in society, and in health psychology in particular, investigating how creativity can be enhanced is a valuable area of research. Interventions that enable individuals to become more creative vary from their focus on increasing divergent thinking to task reactivation during sleep. This article introduces psychosynthesis psychology as an additional theoretical and therapeutic approach for enhancing creativity through its concept that creativity originates from different levels of the unconscious. We show that the subpersonality model, one of the fundamental psychosynthesis techniques, is an effective intervention for aiding creative expression, as it helps people to connect to different levels of their unconscious creativity. It is assumed that through the use of this technique, clients are able to release and unblock energies that not only allow them to rebuild their personal identities, but also become actively creative in their daily lives. We support this assumption with qualitative findings that include testimonies from eleven clients in The Netherlands who received psychosynthesis counseling. In addition, qualitative data of a case study demonstrates subpersonality integration and its role in helping clients to become more creative in their personal and professional lives. The present paper is, to the best of our knowledge, the first to demonstrate the beneficial effects of using psychosynthesis to facilitate creativity. The framework of psychosynthesis psychology, its techniques (which include the subpersonality model), and its therapeutic approach, are viable methodologies for anyone searching to unblock and activate new creative energy and achieve personal and professional growth. Keywords: creativity; psychosynthesis; subpersonality; personal growth; self- actuation; self-individuation Introduction The creative process has been of interest to great thinkers since the time of Plato and Aristotle, yet, after more than 2000 years, no general consensus exists for its definition. It is, however, generally accepted that creativity involves a novel product, idea, or solution that is of value to the individual and/or larger social group (Amabile, 1983). One of the essential abilities fundamental to creativity is cognitive flexibility (Chi, 1997; Jausovec, 1991, 1994; Müller, Gerasimova, & Ritter, in press; Runco & Okuda, 1991; Thurston & Runco, 1999). Cognitive flexibility is the ability to break cognitive patterns, to overcome fixed association patterns, and to avoid a reliance on conventional ideas or solutions (Guilford, 1967). Researchers describe cognitive flexibility as the cognitive core of creativity and an important 1 Corresponding Author: Istituto di Psicosintesi, Centro di Firenze, Via S. Domenico, 16, 50133 Florence, Italy. Email: [email protected] 2 Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, Montessorilaan 3, A.09.15, 6500 HE Nijmegen, Netherlands. Published 30 June 2016 DOI: 10.1177/0022167816653224 http://jhp.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/06/24/0022167816653224.abstract 2 Lombard and Müller component of “real life” creativity (Baghetto & Kaufman, 2007; Hennessey & Amabile, 2010). In addition, studies have shown that high cognitive flexibility relates positively to better and even exceptional creative achievement (e.g., Carson, Peterson, & Higgins, 2005). As creativity has been suggested to have many positive outcomes for health and well- being (for a review see Stuckey & Nobel, 2010), techniques to foster creativity are well investigated. Well-known techniques to enhance creative thinking and cognitive flexibility are, among others, practicing divergent thinking and metaphor generation (for a review see Scott, Leritz, & Mumford, 2004). Perhaps three of the most broadly applicable tactics are: 1) a shift of perspective, 2) questioning one’s own assumptions, and 3) the use of analogies (e.g., Cropley, 1997; Nickerson, 1999; Scott et al., 2004). Often these three tactics can function in sequence. For example, it is assumed that by questioning our assumptions, we begin to release our expectations and open up avenues for new ideas, activities, and possibilities (i.e. new perspectives) and, consequently, begin to engage more readily in analogical reasoning. A change of perspective can occur outwardly in a literal and sensory way or inwardly in how the individual thinks about or defines a problem. For example, a current tactic often used in programs designed to enhance creative potential is to ask participants to “stand the problem on its head,” i.e. turn the issue upside down to obtain a different point of view (Runco, 1999). Often our perceptions of a problem are held in place by our assumptions. While assumptions can be beneficial in directing our daily behavior and allowing us to be free from thinking through every detail of routine issues, they can also inhibit creativity by limiting our perceptions. Too often assumptions are patterns of thinking that are difficult to break away from and even incorrect when facing new problems (Davis, 1999). Once we are able to change our assumptions and open up our perspectives, analogical reasoning can also occur. Analogical reasoning involves the active construction of coherent relational mappings, such as metaphors. Studies in this field have focused on how people use existing knowledge to draw inferences about new situations and, in particular, the successful combination and reorganization of ideas to generate new understandings (e.g., Mumford & Porter, 1999). This present paper shows that psychosynthesis, until now lacking in the creativity literature, is a needed framework and therapeutic approach to enhancing creativity. One of the concepts of psychosynthesis is that creativity not only emerges from the lower unconscious, but also from the higher unconscious. Psychosynthesis therapy includes techniques, such as the subpersonality model, that encourage clients to connect to their different levels of unconsciousness and, consequently, to a broader range of their creative energies. This paper is a qualitative study showing how psychosynthesis counseling works to enhance creativity. In the next sections, we introduce psychosynthesis concepts, its views on creativity, and its therapeutic techniques, in particular the subpersonality model, used to foster creativity. Surprisingly, notions of creativity are not widely found in the counseling literature. However, research has shown parallels between creative training processes and counseling methods (Cole & Sarnoff, 1980; Frey 1975; Schubert & Biondi, 1975). Similarly, studies have shown that outcomes of both creative training as well as counseling include an increase in participants’ personal growth, enjoyment, and self-confidence in a variety of non-technical areas; increased levels of functioning in relationships, communication, and problem-solving; and improved performances in divergent thinking and feeling (Mansfield, Busse, & Krepelka, 1978; Parnes & Noller, 1973). Although correlation studies have shown evidence that creativity and self-actualization are related, there is some uncertainty about the direction of effect (Buckmaster & Davis, 1985; Runco, Ebersole & Mraz, 1991). Published 30 June 2016 DOI: 10.1177/0022167816653224 http://jhp.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/06/24/0022167816653224.abstract “Opening the Door to Creativity – A Psychosynthesis Approach” Manuscript Accepted by the Journal of Humanistic Psychology Divergent thinking is a central feature of creativity and tends to be tentative and exploratory, oriented to multiple possibilities, including the ability to hold contradictory ideas simultaneously in one’s mind while incorporating and modifying new ideas. In fact, for many clients in counseling, their first step toward positive growth and change can be learning and practicing divergent thinking and feeling (e.g., Carson, 1999). In line with this assumption, Milenković (2007) has stated that “psychotherapy is a scientific discipline but also an art of re-creation for people, their personality and behavior, … implying new attitudes towards oneself, others, and the future that involves awakening the creativity in the client” (p. 56). Rogers (1961) also argued that “the mainspring of creativity appears to be the same tendency … as the creative force in psychotherapy” (p. 351). Jung (1966) believed that creativity plays a pivotal part in the process of self-realization, and Maslow (1971) concluded that self-actualization and creativity are interdependent, with each one facilitating the other, and may in fact “turn out to be the same thing” (p. 57). As such, the counselor and client can be seen as co-producers of ideas and solutions that are both novel and useful in that they create a new way of being for the client that is more satisfying, empowering, and ultimately creative. Despite psychosynthesis psychology having the possibility of providing a holistic framework for the enhancement of creativity, this approach remains, for the most part, missing from the creativity literature. Psychosynthesis is an integrative transpersonal psychology that provides a universal framework to incorporate an understanding of one’s body, feelings, attitudes, and behavior into a harmonious and synthesized whole that includes all the human dimensions – physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. Psychosynthesis also provides a therapeutic
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